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The Dear Hunter
The Dear Hunter is an American progressive rock band, originally hailing from Providence, Rhode Island. History The Dear Hunter ''' had been a side project of lead singer Casey Crescenzo during his time as a member of '''The Receiving End Of Sirens. It served as Crescenzo’s method of creating music that didn’t fit with the style of his current band. In the Winter of 2005, Casey wrote and released the Dear Ms. Leading demos as a means of pursuing his own unique style within a new paradigm. 10 unofficial copies were burned on CDs, which were circulated amongst his friends and posted online for download. While elements and characters featured on the demos would reappear on the subsequent Acts series of albums, Casey has confirmed that there was a transformation in how he represented these themes and persons; while the story had its origins in his personal life, the Acts removed most autobiographical elements in favor of fiction. Act I: The Lake South, The River North In May 2006, Casey left The Receiving End Of Sirens following health issues, and commenced work on the first studio album of The Dear Hunter, later expanding it into the six album series known as ‘The Acts’, which told the story of the birth, life, and death of a character known as ‘The Hunter’, set at the dawn of the 20th Century in a fictitious location. The album was produced and recorded by Casey, with assistance from his brother, Nick Crescenzo, on drums, and his mother on backing vocals. The album was released through Triple Crown Records in September 2006. Following the release of this album, Casey recruited vocalist and keyboardist Luke Dent, and second guitarist Erick Serna. Luke brought his brother, Sam Dent, into the band as the drummer, whilst Erick brought Josh Reault into the band as a bassist. Act II: The Meaning of, and All Things Regarding, Ms. Leading The band entered the studio in late 2006 record the follow-up to the debut album, and their first LP. During this time, the band recorded nearly two hours of music, which was cut down to 80 minutes to ensure the album could be released on a single disc. Act II was released on May 22nd, 2007. Following the release, the band toured extensively to promote it, and produced a video for the song ‘The Church and the Dime’. Prior to a series of dates with Circa Survive, Josh, Sam, and Luke left the band. Temporary replacements included Cliff Sarcona and Julio Tavarez from As Tall As Lions on drums and bass respectively, Christopher Tagliaferro of Tiger Riot (bass), and Andy Wildrick of The Junior Varsity (guitar/keys). Andy Wildrick, Sagan Jacobson, bass player of Crown Atlantic, and Nick Crescenzo, later became permanent members of the band. The band embarked on their first headlining tour in mid 2008. In the subsequent December, Sagan Jacobson departed the band, and would be replaced by Nate Patterson. Act III: Life And Death After the headlining tour, The Dear Hunter entered the studio to record their third album. During this time, former bassist Josh Rheault announced rejoined The Dear Hunter on acoustic guitar, backing vocals, and keyboards. Act III was released on June 23, 2009, again on Triple Crown Records. The Color Spectrum Between the release of Act II and Act III, Casey was also conceiving a multi-album arc related to the colour spectrum. On April 23, 2010, Crescenzo announced that The Dear Hunter would be taking a break from The Acts series of albums to focus on this new concept. He also stated that Act IV would most likely not be seen for quite some time. He later announced that the project, titled The Color Spectrum, would consist of nine EPs, each corresponding to a certain colour: Black, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet and White. On February 24, 2011, Alternative Press announced the EPs would be released in multiple formats, including a physical CD containing select tracks from each of the EPs, as a shortened option to the full project. At some point prior to the completion of The Color Spectrum, Josh Rheault and Erick Serna both left the band. Furthermore, during this time period, Maxwell Tousseau and Robert Parr joined the band in combined keyboardist and guitarist roles. Subsequent to the release of The Color Spectrum, The Dear Hunter performed the entire three-hour set of EPs in a single show. The Color Spectrum was released in both the aforementioned shortened format, and as a complete edition featuring all 36 songs from the project, on June 14th, 2011. The complete edition was released both as a CD box set, and a vinyl box set. Migrant The Dear Hunter returned to the studio in 2012 with producer Mike Watts to record the next album, Migrant, which would be the the first album under Casey's new imprint label, Cave & Canary Goods; a unit of Equal Vision Records. Migrant became the first album released by The Dear Hunter that does not have a concept of any sort, and was released on April 2, 2013. Casey remarked that the non-conceptual nature of this album presented new challenges: "I've been in the rhythm of writing conceptually. It’s a challenge for me to be more transparent and more honest and more directly from the heart and not filtering it through something. So I think that was really exciting; it was really refreshing." Act IV: Rebirth In Reprise On March 3, 2015 Casey announced that Act IV: Rebirth in Reprise was well under way and should be released by the end of 2015. This was announced in conjunction with The Dear Hunter's live album that was released the same day. The live album, The Dear Hunter – Live, features songs from the string quartet tour from mid-2013. On June 16, the single "A Night on the Town" became available for streaming on the band's official website, and the album became available for preorder. The album, released September 4th, 2015, debuted at No. 39 on the Billboard 200 selling approximately 7,000 copies, both career highs for the band. The Dear Hunter then embarked on a Fall US Tour with bands CHON and Gates. The album marked the first collaboration with Awesöme Orchestra, and the first usage of Nicky Barkla's artwork for the album art. Act V: Hymns With The Devil In Confessional ' On June 22, 2016 Casey Crescenzo announced via Facebook that ''Act V: Hymns with the Devil in Confessional was set for a September 9, 2016 release. The album debuted at #48 on the US Billboard 200 and #6 on the Independent Albums chart, becoming their 2nd best charting success so far. The band embarked on a month-long North American tour with Gavin Castleton and Eisley in late September, finishing with a show in San Francisco accompanied by Awesöme Orchestra, whom had returned for this album. Gavin Castleton would become a full-time member of the band during this time period as a keyboardist. The show focused mainly on Act IV and V and a few tracks off the first Acts. '''All Is As All Should Be On September 12, 2017, The Dear Hunter announced a headlining tour with The Family Crest and Vava. On September 13th, The Dear Hunter announced a six track EP titled All Is as All Should Be. It was released on December 1, 2017 through Cave And Canary Goods. The EP marked another departure from the Acts, with each song on the EP being directed by a fan or close friend of the band, and the recording process taking place in locations such as fan's houses. The Acts On March 11th, 2019, following a quiet period from the band, 'The Acts' was announced. It would be a box set featuring all of the albums belonging to the Acts series pressed on vinyl with new colourways. Alongside this, the box set would come with a new record entitled 'The Fox & The Hunt', which would feature music that, whilst not part of the story of the Acts, could be enjoyed as a companion piece. Furthermore, the box set would feature an empty case for Act VI, and purchasing the box set would give fans the opportunity to buy Act VI for a lower price, should it be released. The box set would also include a lyric book, and a 'conversation with Casey Crescenzo' on the Acts. Each of the albums in the box set would also feature re-imagined artwork by Nicky Barkla, save for Acts IV and V. Music Style The Dear Hunter are known for their progressive, symphonic rock style. The first album, Act I, was far more stripped back musically, featuring less in terms of symphonic or art rock elements, and having a stronger progressive rock sound. This is arguably because of the small amount of personnel that were involved in creating this album. The follow-up, Act II, was far more experimental sonically. Act III began to incorporate increasing amount of symphonic elements. Migrant saw the band drop many of the more experimental, symphonic elements that they had been developing, in favour of a more stripped-back, indie rock sound. In contrast, Act IV saw the band expand greatly on the symphonic elements that had been developing up until Migrant, now with the inclusion of Awesöme Orchestra on many of the tracks. Having been recorded in conjunction with Act IV, Act V maintained a very similar sonic style to previous album, except with a darker tone to many of the albums. At times, both of these albums expand further into not only symphonic rock, but also art rock. ''